House Republican: Obama using military as ‘budgetary bargaining chip’

Rep. Bradley Byrne (R-Ala.) on Friday accused President Obama of using the military as a “budgetary bargaining chip” in a deal to avert sequestration cuts.

President Obama urged Congress to craft a way to avert sequestraton cuts during a visit to the Pentagon this week, saying lawamkers need to make sure the military has “the equipment and the technology that’s necessary for them to be able to succeed at their mission.” The president has long called for a sequestration deal to include limiting cuts to both defense and domestic spending.

{mosads}Byrne argued that lawmakers should focus on spending for the military, particularly during conflicts in the Middle East against Islamic extremists.

“President Obama needs to realize that he cannot be the commander-in-chief our armed forces need if he is also using them as a budgetary bargaining chip,” Byrne said. “I call on the president to stand up and act like a real commander-in-chief and quit trying to bargain with the Congress by holding defense spending hostage.”

The Alabama Republican argued that military spending should be a priority instead of domestic programs that he believes can be handled by the private sector.

“The president makes the mistake of believing that we can pay for ‘guns’ and ‘butter’ during war time – a mistake we made in the 1960’s resulting in destructive inflation, and in the 2000’s, resulting in unacceptable budget deficits,” Byrne said. “We are far enough past the Great Recession that the government needs to get out of the business of making ‘butter’ to allow private sector businesses to make all the ‘butter’ we need.”

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel has warned that development on military projects could stall if sequestration cuts are implemented in the next fiscal year.

“Under sequestration spending levels, we would be gambling that our military will not be required to respond to multiple major contingencies at the same time,” Hagel said earlier this year.